A funny sort of day...
Hmmm…
You know when you get an idea in your head that you just know will work?
Well, since I got my 7D I’ve been looking forward to giving it a real test on the local Fulmars – as big a test of BIF photography as you’ll find – because I’ve been absolutely convinced that the 7D’s Zone AF system would make them silly-easy: I’ve been absolutely certain that this new mode would make even these birds (think jet-propelled gulls, even though they’re not related to gulls but to albatrosses) trivially easy to shoot, based in no small part on how easy it was to shoot Black Headed Gulls against busy backgrounds that I posted here.
Well I was very, very wrong about this!
Although Zone did indeed work spectacularly well against trees and whatnot earlier in the year (designed as it is to “ignore” what’s in the background and only focus on whatever’s closest to the camera), it was completely flummoxed by the sea as a background: I shot well over 200 Fulmar images – and kept only a handful!
I suspect that the problem is a DOF thing, because when shooting birds that had the sea as their background, they were often far enough away that I believe the AF algorithm couldn’t really tell they were closer than the water: and the water itself was choppy enough to provide sufficent distraction to the AF to make Zone struggle.
Whatever, it was a disappointment, although I’ll try again – the cliffs at Hartley village are an ideal spot for Fulmar photography.
Switching to Centre AF point + assist points helped a little, but I’m not always good enough to keep the AF point on the bird in that mode, and even when I did (as confirmed by a bit of chimping) I still didn’t always get a sharp image. Maybe the 100-400mm’s AF drive just can’t keep up with the 7D’s AF-On-Steroids? Or perhaps the assist points were locking onto the waves…
I’ve got a few Custom Function settings changes to try though, such as changing C.Fn III-3 from 1 to 0, which should have the effect of keeping tracking priority with the AF point that has already acquired focus on the bird, ignoring distractions from other AF points.
Anyway, for all that I struggled to get the shots I was after, I did actually manage a few I was pretty happy with – and in my defence, these Fulmars weren’t just casually hanging in the breeze, they were shifting!
Fulmar
Fulmar
Fulmar
Having done with Fulmars, I couldn’t resist pointing the camera at a few brilliant Starlings at Seaton Sluice – they’re really looking at their best at this time of year:
Starling
Starling
Starling
Just want to say I have experienced very similar circumstances, with my 7d recently.
Was shooting Boneparte’s gulls on Lake Huron here in the States. Water was extremely choppy thanks to a very stiff breeze (32kph) and similarly I was unable to get sharp shots, it did seem like the camera was “flummoxed” by the choppy water. I am using the 400 prime which is supposed to have a superior focusing system to the 1-4 zoom, however it could not AF properly in the conditions either. Just like you I used AF + Assist, center focus point f/8. Shots were taken at an average of 1/1250 sec to 1/1600 sec at ISO 400.
Also had great difficulty in keeping the focus point on the birds due in no small part to the stiff breeze (32kph).
Also can relate to your comment about “chimping” to get on the bird and still not get very sharp shots.
Anyway you did very well with what you did get from your shoot!
If you don’t mind my asking what was the exposure info for those shots?
Thanks!
Hi Nate,
sorry for the delay in replying.
Yeah, it’s a funny thing, but as it happens I think I’m putting too much store in the notion that the camera is able to differentiate between foreground and background, especially when the background is as contrasty as a brightly-lit choppy sea – I can’t think of anything more contrasty, to be honest, and the camera seems to react accordingly…
To be fair though, when I used a Nikon D200 – which also had “Closest Focus Priority” – that didn’t work either: and when I bumped into a D300 user on my last trip out I made a point of asking him how well the D300 worked in this regard.
His answer: “It doesnt, really…“
So as far as I’m concerned, Zone will have to remain a mode to use against clear skies or against less contrasty backgrounds – or against backgrounds that are sufficiently distant to be very OOF.